Toward Ecosophy

The essays below are the sixth and seventh of a series of seven instructional papers on the Tree of Life, the basic glyph of Cosmic structure and process in the traditions inherited by the FHR. They were written by John Gilbert and are presented here with only minor editing. As I noted in introducing the earlier sections, it is irrelevant whether you believe or disbelieve in what follows. What matters is that you read these texts, think about them, understand them, and come to your own conclusions about the material covered in them.

Next week I'll be posting one more essay that belongs to the Candidate grade, and the following week I'll put up the self-initiation ritual for the Grade of Seeker, the first step up the ladder of initiations in the FHR. In order to prepare for that, you'll need to have provided yourself with all the basic equipment mentioned in the prospectus I posted earlier -- altar, pillars, basic emblems of the four elements (folding fan, incense burner, cup of water, bowl of salt), yellow, red, blue, and green candles (one each), and a copy of the Rider-Waite deck (or at least a printout of Trump 0, the Fool). You'll also need to have read and studied these essays on the Tree of Life, and begun daily practice of your protective ritual, discursive meditation, and divination. Those practices are the requirements of initiation, and when you take the initiation you will be committing yourself to keep going with them. 

THE TREE OF LIFE

By John Gilbert

Part Six - Desire, Mind and The Matrix

Once we descend through the Veil of Illusion, also known as Paroketh, we enter the World of Fire, the Astral World. In this world we build the foundation for our physical body. In this world the Universe builds the foundation for the suns and planets of the universe. This is the astral world which is the foundation for the physical.

According to the Universal Gnostic Church and the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, this is the World of Ego. It's the world of our ego. The first sphere in this world and the seventh sphere on the Tree of Life is called Desire. Its Hebrew name is Netzatch which is usually translated as Victory. A better translation is probably "Firmness," meaning the firmness of our intentions and dreams. Hence, the name of "Desire."  Other names like Passion, Drive, Devotion, Intention and Ambition are also appropriate names as is Intuition. Our Desire center is the root of our intuition.

Desire is the manifestation of Fire in the Astral World. Desire is based in our original intentions before we started the final stage leading to our incarnation (incarceration) here on Earth. It's the closest thing we have in the Astral World to our Soul which resides in the World of Water. It's our spiritual center in the Astral World.

In our opinion, the Element of Fire is the most difficult of the four Elements to interpret in the Tarot. Astrologically we understand the drive, passion, desire and energy of Fire fairly well.  But in the Tarot we attribute it to things like a person's career, their intuition or their spirit.

Our Passion is more than just our career, it's all of our consuming interests and all of the energy we have in our life. Yes, Fire is intuitive. Yes, Fire is closer to Spirit than the other three Elements but it's really not the Element of Spirit in my opinion.

Our Fire is a place we can go in meditation to learn about our life's purpose, our mission in this lifetime. When we made the decision to incarnate, we determined what we really wanted to accomplish in this lifetime. That's our purpose, our reason for incarnating. We can find that reason in the World of Fire.

We've descended the Tree of Life from the World of Air, through the World of Water, through the Second Veil and now find ourselves in the World of Fire. We've passed from the World of Reality into the World of Illusion. We've received our "Baptism by Fire" as we crossed through the Curtain of Fire. This is our third baptism by the way. We received a Baptism by Air into the World of Air when we became manifest in our Spirit. We received a Baptism by Water into the World of Water when we descended into our Soul. Now we receive a Baptism by Fire as we descend into our Ego.

Our Ego is clothed in the World of Fire by the Elements of Fire, Air and Water. Fire is sphere seven, which we discussed last week and in the question above. Water is the ninth sphere to be discussed next. Air is assigned to sphere eight, which in Hebrew is called Hod, and that's our subject here. before we get there though, it's interesting to note that our Spirit, Soul and Ego are each composed of denser and denser Air, Fire and Water as we descend from the Unmanifest down the Tree of Life to physical manifestation.

Sphere eight is the Air Element expressed in the World of Fire. It's our thoughts, ideas and attitudes filtered through our emotions. These are not the Archetypes we find in the World of Air (sphere one) nor the intentionally balanced emotions we find in the World of Water (sphere six). These are the raw, vibrant, energy-filled thoughts we have in our every-day mind. That's why we call sphere eight Intellect or Mind and it refers to our day-to-day intelligence.

Our Mind operates on three distinct levels: 1) Memory (Past), 2) Cognition (Present), and 3) Imagination (Future). Our complete memory contains both our subconscious and unconscious minds. Our subconscious mind is where we store memories we can normally access. Our unconscious mind stores all other memories. Our Cognitive Mind is our rational mind also known as our thinking mind. This is our logical and deductive mind with which we think and deduce. Our Imagination is our Imaginative Mind and this is where we plan our future and imagine the possibilities for our life.

Our Intellect is connected to our Emotional World at both Harmony and Power. This gives us the ability to draw upon our Inner Strength and our Inner Harmony (also called our Soul). Our Intellect is also connected to our Desire Center and this gives us some direction in focusing our thoughts. What we desire colors what we think. Lest you haven't figured it out already, both our Desire and our Intellect are masculine qualities.

The first two worlds, the side spheres, which lie on the right and left pillars of the Tree, were balanced in that one was feminine and one was masculine. Now, in this second reflection of the Divine, we see an imbalance right-to-left. This imbalance will become important as we complete our study of the Tree of Life. For now, it's fun to think about these things.

The Tree of Life is a three-phase descent from the Unmanifest through the Three Worlds of Air, Fire and Water resulting in Manifestation in the World of Earth. The first world is the World of Air. It's composed of the three Elements Air in sphere one, Fire in sphere two and Water in sphere three. These are the Creator, Masculine and Female Archetypes.  The Creator is the center of balance between the Masculine and Feminine.

The second world is the World of Water. It's composed of the same three elements. Sphere four is Water. Sphere five is Fire and sphere six is Air. Remember, the Abyss separates the Second World from the First World and that the Second World is a reflection of the First. Notice also that the masculine has moved from the right-side of the Tree of Life to the left as you move down from the World of Air to the World of Water as you face the Tree. The feminine moves from the left side of the Tree to the right as you move down the Tree from the First World to the Second.

The third world is the World of Fire. It's also composed of the same three elements of Fire in sphere seven, Air in sphere eight and Water in sphere nine. All of this leads to the fact that sphere seven is the Element of Fire in the World of Fire. Our intentions and beliefs in the World of Air have been energized with emotional power in the World of Water. The result is our intentions have become emotionally charged when we reach sphere seven. Emotionally charged intentions are our passion, our drive and our desires.

Harmony, Desire and Intellect all send energy to the third sphere in the third triangle, in the Third World of the Tree of Life. This third sphere is the ninth sphere on the Tree of Life. Its Hebrew name is Yesod and this means "Foundation." This is the foundation of the physical universe.

Physical matter is built upon a Matrix of Energy.  Physical matter is itself spinning energy. Modern physics has proven what Einstein postulated half a century ago, that energy = mass times the speed of light squared. Matter is energy. Our ancient brothers and sisters who understood the Qabalah centuries and millennia ago knew this. Modern science has only proven this fact in the last twenty-five years.

The Matrix of Energy upon which the physical universe is built is the Element Water. This element flows into all the forms that exist on Earth. So there you have it. In the World of Fire we have the same three elements of Air, Water and Fire that we've seen in the World of Water and the World of Air. The masculine and the feminine have switched polarities as we move down the Tree of Life from world to world. In the last world, the World of Fire, the feminine has moved from the Left Pillar to the Middle Pillar. Balance is maintained by the third sphere representing the third element in each world. Thus in the World of Fire, Water is the balancing point.

As our consciousness crosses the Abyss we experience a change in  polarity and the right side of our body changes from feminine to masculine as we cross the Abyss.  When our consciousness passes through the Veil of Illusion we experience another change in polarity.  This time, however, our polarity is scrambled.  Feminine Water  changes to Masculine Fire, but Masculine Fire changes to Neutral Air and Neutral Air becomes Feminine Water.  Thus it is in the World of Illusion, the Astral World.

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THE TREE OF LIFE

by John Gilbert

Part Seven – Manifestation: The Four Worlds & Three Pillars

The final sphere on the Tree of life is called Malkut or Malkuth in Hebrew. This is translated as "Kingdom" or "Manifestation." The three spheres in the World of Fire, Desire, Intellect and Foundation, all send energy to Manifestation.

Manifestation receives energy from the higher spheres only through the three spheres in the World of Fire. Thus it is completely isolated from the higher worlds.

Manifestation is the Earth element and it stands alone as the only sphere in the World of Earth. It receives energy directly from the Elements of Air (Intellect), Fire (Desire) and Water (Foundation).  Harmony, which represents the Element of Spirit in the physical world, sends energy to Manifestation through the other three Elements.

The World of Air which is also the World of Archetypes is composed of Awareness (1 = Air), Intention (2 = Fire) and Focus (3 = Water). The World of Air is the home for our Spirit. Just as the World of Air is the first creation of the Unmanifest Creator, so is our Spirit our first body and it resides in the World of Air. Our Spirit resides in the World of Archetypes, thoughts and ideas. Our Spirit is our original Archetype and the ultimate source of all our thoughts and ideas.

The World of Water, which is the Reflection of the First World, is composed of Love (4 = Water), Power (5 = Fire) and Harmony (6 = Air).  Notice two things. One, the Elements of Fire and Water have switched places as we move from the World of Air to the World of Water. Two, the Element of Air remains in the middle. The World of Water is the home for our Soul. Just as the World of Water is a reflection of the World of Air across the Abyss, so is our Soul a reflection of our Spirit reflected across the Abyss. Our Spirit resides above the Abyss and does not cross over it to our Soul. Our Soul resides below the Abyss and does not cross over the Abyss.  

The World of Fire, the second reflection of the First World over the Abyss and through the Veil of Fire, is composed of Desire (7 = Fire), Intellect (8 = Air) and Foundation (9 = Water). The World of Fire is the home of our Ego which is the reflection of our Soul. Just as our Soul doesn't cross the Abyss, our Ego doesn't cross the Veil of Water.  Remember, the Veil of Ignorance seen from above is the Veil of Fire and seen from below is the Veil of Water. The Veil of Ignorance separates the Worlds of Water and Fire just as the Abyss separates the Worlds of Water and Air.

The World of Earth, the third and final reflection of the First World, is composed of only the tenth sphere Manifestation (10 = Earth) and is the sole representative of that Element. Our body resides in the World of Earth and within it is our three Elemental Bodies: Astral (Foundation = Water), Mental (Intellect = Air) and Intuitive (Desire = Fire). It also contains our Etheric, the energy field created by our physical body. Our body is home to our Ego, Soul and Spirit. It's also home to our higher subtle bodies, which various traditions name in various ways.  Let it suffice that we have one subtle body for each sphere from six on up to number one.

Notice that as we move down into the World of Fire, the Element of Fire switches from the left side to the right side of the Tree. This switching back and forth is the result of a change in polarity as we cross the Abyss and again as we cross the Veil of Paroketh.  Thus the Right Pillar (as we're looking at the Tree) has Fire (Intention = 2) at the top, Water (Love = 4) in the middle and Fire (Desire = 7) at the bottom.

The Right Pillar has several names. Among them are the Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Wisdom, Pillar of Knowledge, Pillar of Intention, Pillar of Desire, Pillar of Light, Jachin (which some call Joachim), the White Pillar, and the Left-hand of God. The Left Hand of God alludes to the fact that we turn around and step backwards into the Tree of Life.  The Right Pillar is the left side of our body.

Taken to another level, our left brain is associated with Intention; our left shoulder, arm and hand is associated with Love = Compassion; and our left hip and thigh with Desire.  The left side of our body is the Right Pillar.

The Left Pillar has Water (Belief) at the top, Fire (Power) in the middle and Air (Mind or Intellect) at the bottom.  Notice that Air is at the bottom of the Tree instead of Water as would be expected.  This is one indication we have that the second reflection of the Archetypal World is more corrupt than the first reflection.

The Left Pillar has several names.  Among them are Pillar of Water, Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Understanding, Pillar of Faith, Pillar of Power, Pillar of Darkness, Pillar of Fear and Anger, Pillar of Anxiety, Boaz, the Black Pillar and the Right Hand of God.  The Pillar of Cloud is the pillar the Jews followed during the day on their forty-year journey through the desert on their way to the promised land.  During the evening they followed the Pillar of Fire.

Taken to another level, our right brain, right shoulder and arm and right hip and thigh are the Left Pillar of our body and they're associated with Belief, Power and Mind in that order.  In the Jewish Kabbalah the Left Pillar is the Right Hand of God, the Hand of Power.

Between these two pillars is the Middle Pillar which includes the spheres of Awareness, Harmony, Foundation and Manifestation.  Some Qabalists hold the middle pillar also includes the sphere that is not a sphere, the Sephirah that is not a Sephirah, the hole in the middle of  te Abyss.  This sphere that is not a sphere is called by many names. Among them is the Hebrew word Daath which means Knowledge or Learning.  Other names for this Sphere are Emptiness, The Void, Enlightenment and Consciousness.

The Middle Pillar has many names but it is most commonly referred to as the Middle Pillar.  Other names include the Pillar of Harmony, the Pillar of Balance, the Pillar of Awareness, the Pillar of Consciousness, and the Pillar of Equilibrium.  The Middle Pillar by any name becomes more important as you advance in rank in the Fellowship.